The United Nations was primarily formed as the successor to the League of Nations, which ended its operations after it was defeated in stopping World War II. During its creation, the U.N. began only with 51 member states, but today it is made up of 193 members and is headquartered in the New York City (Mingst & Karns, 2016). Significant initiatives run by the U.N. include providing humanitarian services to a large number of a population across the world, offering emergency food and medical assistance as well as solving conflicts by effective options to maintain peace. Besides, few years after its formation, a number of meetings were conducted where the main agenda was to draft a post-war charter that accurately outlined the most significant roles of the U.N. The membership rules were delineated on the permit where the membership was open to any peace-loving nation that accepted and was willing to undertake the responsibilities contained in the charter as well as the judgment of the organization (Assembly, 2010). The organization is typically structured into five principal organs which include the General assembly that is mainly concerned with the policy-making of the U.N., the Economic and Social Council that primarily concentrates on the environmental, social and economic issues associated with the development goals internationally. The third one is a judicial organ namely the international court of justice, which solves conflicts between members and offers advisory opinions to the organization (Mingst & Karns, 2016). The trustee council was also formed to ensure the self-governance of eleven territories, the UN Secretariat that acts as the administrative organ and lastly the Security Council, whose primary objective is to maintain international peace and security.

The U.N. has inarguably played a key role in managing the worldwide crisis by allowing various distinct nations to present their issues to the international community without necessarily having to resort to violence. Given this, the organization has led to a peaceful transformation via the regional coordination thereby reducing violent confrontations and substantially contributing to the overall international peace and security (United Nations Seventieth Anniversary, 2015). A specific recent example or story that depicts the success of the United Nation's mission of peacekeeping is through its operations in the Cote d'Ivoire conflicts which ended on June 30, 2017 where the organization managed to protect thousands of civilians, facilitated inclusive dialogue and energetically supported the country's government in the reintegration, demilitarization, and demobilization of the former combatants.

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However, in spite of the consequent successes that the U.N. has accomplished in the contemporary world of politics, it has also been criticized mainly as a result of its apparent failures and limitations in the recent times. Some of its epic failures mainly regard the commitment issues of the member states, the unequal representation of the member states in the Security Council, and the concept of national sovereignty influencing the reinforcement of resolutions (Weiss, 2016). Sovereign equality is apparent within the body of the General assembly in that every nation regardless of its population or size has only one vote (Assembly, 2010). In essence, the General Assembly organ is weaker as compared to the Security Council concerning its effectiveness in maintaining international peace and security. Therefore, given its stronger power, it would be vital to include sovereign equality in the security council. The issue of self-determination and nation sovereignty has immensely resulted in the decolonization of countries such as Asia and Africa by preventing successful conflict resolution (Weiss, 2016). The notion that only international problems are included within the jurisdiction has led to the resolution enforcement failure irrespective of the increasing mass-scale human rights violations taking place in individual nations. As such, and mainly due to the unequal representation of non-western culture within the Security Council, the U.N. is currently perceived as irrelevant regarding the many insecurity challenges facing the world (Assembly, 2010). The issue of commitment problem by the member states within the U.N. system has also significantly contributed to its failure in achieving some of its primary roles as indicated in the organization's charter. For instance, in 2003 and 2014 America bypassed the security council over the invasions that occurred in Iraq and Syria, implying that the U.N. cannot counter or interfere with any actions initiated by powerful countries such as the United States (Weiss, 2016). The U.N. can also be viewed as a failure following the hugely inflated salaries of its workers recently as well as the failed mission of its international security policy in maintaining peace in some of the nations like Iraq, where there are stills wars taking place and people killing each other.

Despite the many criticisms that the U.N. has received following its current shortcomings in directly maintaining peace and security globally, I still feel that the organization is strong and resilient in its attempts and primary goals in balancing the vital force between conflicts and peacekeeping in the modern world politics. It is apparent that the U.N. has failed in some of its mission and has its limitations but this is just like any other intergovernmental organizations. Nonetheless, because each member states aims for a more efficient U.N. that seeks to achieve its primary purposes in peacekeeping and to enhance the coordination of the nations, the U.N. has thus remained and will continue to be substantially relevant in matters concerning the world politics as one of the most prominent sources of international legitimacy (United Nations Seventieth Anniversary, 2015). Therefore, in my opinion, the major challenge facing the U.N. is the unequal representation of some of the member states that have primarily contributed to its failure in countering ethnic conflicts and maintaining peace in these regions. These problems can, however, be solved by implementing the necessary changes in the General Assembly organ primarily concerning the notion of national sovereignty, which would, in turn, result in the abundant positive achievements of the UN (Weiss, 2016) All in all, the United Nations has not generally failed in its primary goals as an international organization as it has played a significant role in resolving conflicts internationally and preventing wars on multiple occasions across the globe.

References

Assembly, U. G. (2010). We the peoples: the role of the United Nations in the twenty-first century. Report of the Secretary-General. A/54/2000, 27.03. 2000, http://mdgs. un. org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/SGReports/54_2000/a_54_2000e. pdf.

Mingst, K. A., & Karns, M. P. (2016). The United Nations in the 21st century. Westview press.

United Nations Seventieth Anniversary (2015). "Seventy Ways the UN Makes a Difference" Retreived from https://www.un.org/un70/en/content/70ways/index.html

Weiss, T. G. (2016). What's Wrong with the United Nations and how to Fix it. John Wiley & Sons.